All pet cats must be micro-chipped under plans to be announced by Tories
ALL pet cats will have to be micro-chipped and households could face a ban on keeping monkeys as pets under plans being announced by the Tories.
Environment Ministers Theresa Villiers and Zac Goldsmith will lay out the party’s pre-election animal welfare policy ahead of the Tory party conference in Manchester.
They will unveil proposals to restrict long journeys for live animals to slaugther houses, which the Government is currently powerless to do under EU law.
The party would consult on introducing mandatory micro-chipping for pet cats and subject them to the same safety measures that currently apply to dogs.
They said it would give cat owners “more peace of mind and strengthen the measures we have to tackle cat theft”.
The party will also look into banning the sale of primates as pets and phase in an outright ban on keeping them as pets in the future.
The Labour party has already pledged to ban the keeping of primates as pets. Currently around 5,000 households have a pet monkey.
The Tories are also considering a move to ban all trophy hunting imports under a wide-ranging animal welfare policy framework.
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Ms Villiers said: “We have a long tradition of protecting animals in this country, often many years before others follow. Leaving the EU allows us to take even bigger steps forward on this.
“The measures we are announcing today will protect our animals in our homes, in agriculture, and in the wild.
“I have campaigned for an end to live exports and what has been announced today will choke off this trade.”
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